Why Nissan’s CEO says the human brain still trumps artificial intelligence
The leader of one of the world’s largest automobile producers expects that cars will soon drive themselves and sync to the world around them — but don’t count out the human behind the wheel just yet.
Carlos Ghosn, the chief executive and chairman of an alliance that includes Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi, said Thursday that humans will remain involved in the operation of vehicles for the foreseeable future, even as cars with self-driving technology enter the market in the next five years. You will push a button to activate the car’s autonomous driving feature, he said, but it will encounter everyday scenarios it cannot compute and that require human assistance.
“Artificial intelligence is still way below the creativity of the human brain,” Ghosn said.
Imagine a self-driving car coming upon a broken-down vehicle in the road, but there is a solid line to either side of it, Ghosn said. The car is wired to recognize both as impassable and doesn’t have the judgment to cross over the line and pass the vehicle as long as the roadway is clear. A human will have to do the job.
That’s just one common scenario in which artificial intelligence comes up short. General Motors recently acknowledged that its own vehicles are not sophisticated enough to respond when another motorist honks his horn.
Ghosn’s perspective on the human’s role in autonomous driving is not universally shared. One of the major questions hanging over self-driving cars is how much they should depend on humans in the vehicle to intervene, if at all. Studies show that autonomous vehicles can lull passengers into a passive state, and stirring them to act when a problem arises takes time and may pose safety concerns.
Ford has seen engineers fall asleep in its self-driving cars during testing, Bloomberg reported last month. Both Ford and Waymo, Google’s self-driving car company, intend to eliminate the role of the human driver entirely, according to Bloomberg, though other major automakers, including GM, Audi and Tesla, still plan to rely on human vigilance.
Self-driving technology is also expected to be an economic force — with both positive and negative consequences.
